Finals date and No. 1 seed

The National Basketball Association has locked in June 3 for Game 1 of the 2026 Finals, while Oklahoma City enters the bracket as the West’s top seed again. (nba.com) The league’s postseason calendar is now set: the play-in tournament runs April 14 through April 17, the first round starts April 18, and the Finals open on a Wednesday night on ABC. (nba.com) Oklahoma City clinched the Western Conference’s No. 1 seed on April 8 with a 128-110 win over the Los Angeles Clippers, and National Basketball Association game coverage said the Thunder had won 19 of 20 games at that point. (nba.com) That gave the Thunder the conference’s top seed for a third straight season, which means any Western Conference finals series involving Oklahoma City would open on its home floor. (nba.com) The top seed matters because the play-in tournament decides only the No. 7 and No. 8 spots, so Oklahoma City had to wait for lower-seeded teams to settle before learning its first-round opponent. (nba.com) As of April 14, the Western Conference bracket had Oklahoma City in the 1 spot, San Antonio in the 2 spot, Denver in the 3 spot and the Los Angeles Lakers in the 4 spot, with the Thunder scheduled to open their first-round series on April 19. (espn.com) The Finals date also fixes the spacing of the playoff rounds. The National Basketball Association published June 3 for Game 1 before the bracket was complete, so teams already know the postseason will run into the middle of June. (nba.com) Oklahoma City is not just the West’s top seed; National Basketball Association coverage said the Thunder also clinched the league’s best overall record on April 8, which would give them home-court advantage in the Finals if they get there. (nba.com) The immediate next step is the play-in field finishing on April 17. After that, Oklahoma City’s path starts April 19, and the league’s last series is already sitting on the calendar for June 3. (nba.com)